


Every Stupid Shade of Beautiful

by Lady_Vibeke



Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [31]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Cultural Differences, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Humor, Idiots in Love, Introspection, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Vibeke/pseuds/Lady_Vibeke
Summary: “Sir, are you alright?” asked the vendor behind the stall Din had stopped by.Din blinked under his helmet. Cara was several feet ahead of him, arguing with the kid about their very different choice of supplies. Even in the ugly neon lights of the market, her face looked so unfairly pretty that several passers-by, human and not, turned their head as they walked past her.At the very least, Din wasn't the only one under her spell.Without taking his eyes from her, he slid closer to the stall, then, with a discreet nod in her direction, asked the vendor, “Do you think that woman over there is beautiful?”The man followed his gaze with a puzzled frown.“Excuse me?”“The woman with black hair at the herbs stall. Do you think she's beautiful?”The vendor granted himself less than one second to consider Cara's appearance.“Very beautiful, sir. Quite strikingly so,” he declared with no hesitation.“Uh.”Obviously.[ In which Din is forced to admit Cara looks inescapablybeautifuland his Mandalorian ass is very pissed about this. ]
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Cara Dune & Din Djarin: Tales of Two Space Idiots in Love [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709416
Comments: 35
Kudos: 143





	Every Stupid Shade of Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> This was a WIP for too long and today I had a little time to finish it, so here it is.
> 
> The opening quote is about a beautful badass brunette (B³, if you will) with gorgeous black eyes (if you think I have type, you're absolutely right), so it only seemed fitting I'd use it for this fic's very specific theme.

> “ _It must be distracting, working with someone so beautiful...”_
> 
> ― Criminal Minds, Outfoxed

***

The moment Din Djarin realised he was in love with Cara Dune was not a particularly romantic moment. It was actually a rather dull, banal day, and they were strolling through a filthy underground market in Savaar City doing a very bad job at pretending to be interested in the goods.

Din was outraged by the sudden and quite unexpected realisation and tried to protest with his reason for the utter absurdity of it, as though it had been a decision, _someone else's_ decision, and he was just a helpless victim of the circumstances.

Which he kind of was, all in all.

The problem was this: Cara Dune was inescapably _beautiful,_ both by Mandalorian standards and... well, _standard_ standards. He, as a Mandalorian, was not supposed to have an eye for beauty – not when it came to choosing a partner.

Not that he was _choosing_ Cara in any way. Simply, beauty shouldn't matter. _Ever._

“Sir, are you alright?” asked the vendor behind the stall Din had stopped by.

Din blinked under his helmet. Cara was several feet ahead of him, arguing with the kid about their very different choice of supplies. Even in the ugly neon lights of the market, her face looked so unfairly pretty that several passers-by, human and not, turned their head as they walked past her.

At the very least, Din wasn't the only one under her spell.

Without taking his eyes from her, he slid closer to the stall, then, with a discreet nod in her direction, asked the vendor, “Do you think that woman over there is beautiful?”

The man followed his gaze with a puzzled frown.

“Excuse me?”

“The woman with black hair at the herbs stall. Do you think she's beautiful?”

The vendor granted himself less than one second to consider Cara's appearance.

“Very beautiful, sir. Quite strikingly so,” he declared with no hesitation.

“Uh.”

Obviously.

Not that Din had been expecting a different response.

Cara paid for a pouch of the herbal tea they used to help the child sleep during his fussy nights and walked up to Din with a funny expression.

“Is something wrong?”

Din turned warningly toward the vendor before replying, quite hastily, “Nothing's wrong.”

Everything was wrong.

The Mandalorian in him had felt immediately attracted to Cara as soon as she had knocked him to the ground outside the cantina on Sorgan, and there was nothing strange in that.

 _'She's so strong,'_ he had thought as they fought. By the end of the fight, his awe had gained a dreamy shade, and that was perfectly understandable: no Mandalorian, man or woman, would have had their ass kicked like that without ending up _interested,_ if not completely smitten.

Then Din had seen her face.

“Are you really sure everything's okay with you?” Cara asked while they made their way across a small cluster of noisy Jawas who were bargaining with a parts dealer. “You seem... kinda troubled.”

Din did his best to ignore the way the parts dealer ogled at Cara, much to the Jawas' irritation. He swallowed the indignation and strode on, eager to get out of this crowded area full of indiscreet eyes. They were here for a bounty, easy target, but Din was having a hard time staying focused. His mind was buzzing with conflict: he knew it was Cara's character that ensnared him, but his thoughts kept filling with pictures of her face, her smile, the mischievous twinkle in her eyes, the planes and the curves of her body and how her muscles flexed under her skin as she fought, moved, walked...

“You're beautiful,” he almost hissed, as though it was all her fault he couldn't stop thinking about the breath-taking rounded slope of her hips descending into the length of her thighs...

Beside him, Cara made a funny face.

“Thanks... I guess. That's not exactly the tone I'd expect from someone complimenting me?”

“It was anything but a compliment,” he clarified, which elicited a bewildered giggle from Cara.

“Are you _accusing_ me of being beautiful?”

Din groaned inwardly.

It sounded ridiculous, if she put it like that, but... he kind of was, wasn't he? Except people couldn't be _blamed_ for being physically attractive. It wasn't Cara's fault every single inch of her was glorious. What was he expecting, anyway? That she would apologise for being hot and distracting?

He sighed, “I just wish you weren't.”

This unreasonable behaviour didn't seem to bother Cara too much. If anything, in fact, she looked amused.

“This outweirds every weird you've ever been so far,” she chuckled. A very pretty Twi'lek girl selling Porg eggs followed her with a lascivious leer that nearly cost her a very passionate Keldabe kiss, which Din reconsidered last second after reminding himself that, unfortunately, he couldn't make people _not_ look, nor could he blame them for looking. He couldn't even make himself _not_ look, after all.

“Mandalorians are not supposed to be attracted to beauty,” he grumbled in utter annoyance. It was suddenly very hot under his helmet.

“Beauty is a very subjective concept,” Cara said helpfully, “I'm sure there's- Hold on a sec.” She stopped in the middle of the lane and, holding the kid with one hand, pulled Din back with the other. When Din grudgingly turned back to her, Cara was wearing a teasing grin.

“Did you just imply you're attracted to me?”

Din was glad the helmet was concealing the dumb way his mouth had fallen open. As a matter of fact, he _had_ accidentally just implied he was attracted to Cara, which not only had he had absolutely no intention to admit, there was also no way he could take it back.

“That is not the point,” he attempted to argue, but Cara tugged at his arm and made him look back at her.

“That is _absolutely_ the point.”

Yes, it was. He just didn't want to confront the whole situation, not now nor ever. Cara didn't even think about him like that. Did she?

“Never mind, forget I said anything.”

Din wiggled out of her grip and stalked away like a coward. Cara, however, still had that insufferable (and adorable) little chuckle painted across her lips. She caught up with Din and surpassed him, then started walking backwards.

“No, let's talk about this. I'm interested.”

Din halted. A giant Nautolan bumped into him and cursed at him in three different languages, but Din barely noticed.

“You are?”

Cara's grin was impish and not entirely reassuring; the affection reflected in the way she was looking at him, though... that was genuine and disarming.

Could that be? Could Cara really be _interested?_

“Close your mouth, Din, it's not a good look,” Cara quipped, and Din found himself hastily shutting his mouth before he could even realise there was no way she could _know_ his jaw was hanging open.

They resumed walking, mainly because Din was feeling quite restless, now. The bounty was forgotten and all he could think about now was that he and Cara being a _thing_ was now within the real of possibility, apparently. The temperature under his helmet was rapidly getting very uncomfortable.

“You realise we can't not talk about it now, right?” Cara stressed. Her tone sounded sincere. “You can't get a girl's hopes up like this and then pretend it never happened.”

“Are you serious about this?”

“You know, I'm kinda offended you think I could joke about something like this,” she retorted, a playful curl pulling at one corner of her lips. She must be feeling hot, too, because there was a pink flush in her cheeks. Everything about her felt like it was too much – she was too beautiful, her eyes too dark, her skin too soft, too inviting...

Din gulped. This wasn't helping. _At all._ And why were they discussing this in a filthy underground market, anyway?

Oh, right: he was an impulsive idiot who couldn't keep his mouth shut.

“So, what's the deal with your folks?” asked Cara as they started walking again. “How do well-bred Mandos court their sweethearts?”

Din tensed uncomfortably. This was not a conversation he was mentally prepared to have.

He shrugged, “Our courting rituals actually consist mostly of fighting and gifting weapons.”

“Oh?” The mischief in Cara's grin intensified suspiciously. “So, on a scale from _'Mildly Interested'_ to _'Totally Smitten',_ ” she inquired, “where do a pulse rifle and half an armoury fall?”

“Very close to betroth- _Wait.”_

He met Cara's knowing expression and, with horror, felt himself blush. Unfortunately, what he had just said couldn't be unsaid or unheard and, judging by Cara's self-satisfied face, it was exactly what she had been expecting to hear.

He couldn't repress a growl of chagrin towards himself for this unforgivable slip. Having Cara so close was a serious disturbance to his filters.

“Hey, you did all of that, not me,” she smirked. She adjusted the kid against her hip and poked her elbow into his side. “You could have said you were courting me all along,” she added, “I'd have worn a proper hairstyle.”

“There's a proper hairstyle for girls being courted?”

“There's a proper hairstyle for _everything.”_

The idea of Cara changing her hairstyle to make a public statement about a possible involvement with him caused a flare of pride within Din's chest. He imagined a braid – a different one, or even several – and beskar jewels adorning them, stark and shiny among her raven locks. He took a mental note and filed it away for when they returned to Nevarro; the Armourer would be happy to fulfil a commission from him.

“What does yours mean?” he couldn't help asking. She had been wearing this braid since their first meeting and he felt rather humbles that she was willing to change it for him.

A shadow of sadness passed over Cara's face, only to disappear a second later when she blinked it away. She brought a hand up and wistfully ghosted her fingers along the side of her head.

“Left side is heart's side,” she explained. “This particular braiding symbolises family love. If the hair was braided in the opposite direction, the meaning would change.”

“To what?”

Cara's hand fell. She pulled up the child upon her chest and wrapped her arms around him as they entered a particularly noisy and crowded section of the market.

She winked at Din and said, “I'll tell you after we flesh out this courting thing.”

All the stalls around them sent plants and flowers, but not the common kind: they were glowing in bright colours, intricate patterns shining on the leaves, the petals spreading their delicate light in shades of reds, yellows, pinks, blues...

The kid made a mesmerised sound when they passed by a bunch of giant purple daisies and avidly stretched out his arms in their direction.

Laughing, Din flipped a couple of credits to the vendor and let the kid pick up the biggest and brightest of the flowers.

“Pick another one for your beautiful companion, sir,” said the boy behind the stall. “On the house.”

He was smiling at Cara and clearly trying to make an impression on her, certainly not being generous with Din, but what counted was the result, so Din picked a small white lily and handed it to Cara, who, beaming, proceeded to slip it among the locks in her braid. The long look she shared with Din was warm and soft, and it carried more than just an unspoken 'thank you'.

They were about to move on when a Chiss as big as a brick wall blocked their way. He gave Cara a lecherous once-over, then jerked his chin in Din's direction and said, “What you gonna do with this tin can, sugar?”

Din felt his fists clench. He didn't care about being insulted, but the way the Chiss's red eyes were scanning Cara's body was making his blood boil in his veins.

Of course, Cara didn't need him to stand up for her and her honour. Arms still protectively folded around the kid, she took a step forward and glared up at the guy so coldly that, despite being three times her size and several inches taller, he took a cautious step back.

“First of all,” said Cara with terrifyingly mild smile, “mind your own business. Secondly,” Cara took another step forward, and another; the guy kept retracting until he found himself with his back against a wall, “that tin can over there,” she continued with a sharp nod in Din's direction, “is _my_ tin can, and he's amazing, so piss off, _sugar.”_

Without another word, Cara turned her back to the petrified Chiss and walked back to Din; propped on her shoulder, the child waved his little hands, giant daisy included, at the blue guy and bid his goodbye with a happy gurgle that made Cara's eyes crinkle with a radiant smile that felt like a punch to Din's stomach.

_Beautiful._

She was beautiful. There was nothing he could do about that. Why would he want to, anyway? She had just proved she could kick in the ass anybody foolish enough to assume she was _just_ beautiful. They had nothing to justify to anyone.

“Sorry I called you a tin can,” she muttered as the walked away.

Her hand found its way to Din's; they met confidently halfway, like magnets of opposite poles inevitably being drawn to one another.

“No problem,” said Din. “That is not the part that caught my interest, anyway.”

Cara's smug smirk was very badly stifled by her attempt to bite it between her teeth. She met his gaze; her eyes were glittering black pearls in the glowing halo of the plants and flowers surrounding them.

“Can't imagine which one it was.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> It took me forever to finish this, I wrote tiny bits of it little by little over the past few months and I hope it doesn't feel too chunky in its final form.
> 
> I've always thought Cara is suspiciously a little bit too close to the Mandalorian ideal of perfect woman: strong, skilled in combat and with weapons, clever... to this day I'm convinced it cannot be casual. People say she's clearly a lesbian, I politely disagree: she's clearly a potential Mandalorian love interest. Same goes for our formidable Armourer. This is completely unrelated to their sexualities: as far as we know, they both might be anything, so we're free to headcanon them as anything we like.
> 
> All of this to get to the point: Cara is a perfect Mando snack and this has nothing to do with her looks. But the looks are THERE and Din, like the rest of us, is only human, so... this is where this fic came from.
> 
> As usual, thanks for reading and putting up with my space romcoms. :) Many of you told me they're afraid to be boring or that they don't know what to say in their comments... let me tell you, also on behalf of any other author out there, that comments, even short and/or delirious ones, feed our hearts and souls and boost our passion for writing by a thousand times, so... never be afraid to comment, we cherish every single word! <3


End file.
